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Disease and Drugs: 



A BRIEF TREATISE 


ON T H Ji 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


AND THE SO-CALLED 


ACTIOlsT OF XDZRTXGFS. 


—BY— 


M. G. KELLOGG, M. D. 



1M1E OFFICE OF THE HEALTH REFORMER, 

y 

BATTLE CREEK, MICH. 


1874 . 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
THE HEALTH REFORM INSTITUTE, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C, 







PREFACE. 


Of all the physical evils with which man has to contend, 
disease has long been looked upon as the greatest, as is uni¬ 
versally attested by the constant dread with which it has 
ever been regarded by mankind, all men, no matter how re¬ 
luctant, being sooner or later forced to yield to its fatal in¬ 
fluences. This being the case, it has always very naturally 
and properly received a great amount of attention from all, 
and especially from those who have been actuated by a de¬ 
sire to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow-men. Thus, 
the most ancient Egyptian writings known are dissertations 
upon medical subjects ; and from the most remote periods, 
the true nature and cause of disease have been the subjects 
of much inquiry, investigation, and speculation. Scores of 
theories have been propounded to account for the various 
phenomena of disease; but notwithstanding all this theoriz¬ 
ing and speculation, it is a most singular, although thorough¬ 
ly established, fact that for more than two thousand years 
no progress has be en made in this direction until the pres¬ 
ent century. Indeed, the tendency has rather been in a 
direction quite the opposite of progression. But during the 
last fifty years the mists which have so long obscured this 
most important subject have been gradually clearing away, 
until the truth has at last been developed in all its beauty 
and simplicity. 

The object of the following pages is to explain in a simple 
and comprehensive manner the true nature of disease and its 
causes, and also the manner in which drugs appear to affect 
the system, thus being supposed to cure disease. Many of 
the most important ideas advanced have been obtained from 
the writings and teachings of Dr. R. T. Trail, who has prob¬ 
ably done more than any other person in explaining and de¬ 
veloping this subject, 



GLOSSARY. 


Abnormal. Irregular. 

Capillaries. Minute blood-vessels. 

Depurate. To purify. 

Effete. Worn out. 

Eliminate. To force out; to discharge. 

Excrement. Effete matter discharged from the body, 

Feces. Excrement; dung. Adj. fecal. 

Ganglia. Plural of ganglion , a collection of nerve cells. 
Hygiene. That part of medical science relating to the pres a 
ervation of health. 

Malaria. Noxious exhalations ; miasm. 

Materia Medica. 1. The science which treats of the proper¬ 
ties of drugs. 2. All substances used as medicine. 
Miasmatic. Malarious. 

Normal. Regular; natural. 

(Esophagus. Passage from the mouth to the stomach ; gullet, 
Peristaltic. Worm-like motion of the intestines. 

Salivary Glands. Glands of the mouth secreting saliva. 
Serum. Watery portion of the blood. 

Therapeutics. Knowledge relating to the curative action (so 
called) of medicine. 

Virus. Poison; contagion. 



THE 


Nature and Cause of Disease, 

AND TIIE 

SO-CALLED “ ACTION” OF DRUGS. 


Disease is abnormal vital action; hence, to 
fully understand the nature of disease, it is nec¬ 
essary to understand the actions of the various 
organs when in health. We may divide the vital 
organs into two classes, one of which digests the 
food and circulates it to all parts of the system, 
where it can be used for the purpose of nourish¬ 
ing and building up the body; while the other 
class gathers up the waste matters, broken-down 
tissues, and whatever else there may be in the 
system that is not usable, and casts the same out 
of the body. It can be seen at a glance that 
these two classes of organs must not only exist, 
and perform their work, but that there must be 
an exact balance in the work performed by them 
in order to insure health and prolong life. That 
is, the organs which supply nourishment to the 
tissues must supply just the requisite amount; 
otherwise, the body would decrease in size and 
strength. The organs that eliminate the impu¬ 
rities from the system must also be faithful in 
their work, and cast out all the broken-down tis¬ 
sues and other waste matters just as fast as they 



2 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


accumulate; should they fail to do this, there 
would be a clogging up of the entire system with 
these matters. When these two classes of actions 
are just balanced, the individual is in health. If, 
however, there is an unbalanced condition of 
these actions, for any cause, the individual is dis¬ 
eased. 

The law of self-preservation is the first law 
that is obeyed by the vital organs ; and it is an 
attempt on the part of the organism to obey this 
law that constitutes disease. Hence, it is plain 
to be seen that disease is not a thing, is not an 
entity, but is vital action. In one sense, it is just 
as natural to be sick as it is to be well; that is, 
disease, or abnormal vital action, is just as much 
the work of nature as is health or normal vital 
action. Both are put forth for self-protection, for 
the purpose of preserving the life of the body. 
In health, the organs all act with reference to 
keeping the body just as it is. That is, the bro¬ 
ken-down tissues are removed as fast as they 
break down, and others are as promptly built up 
to take their place, all unusable matter being re¬ 
moved from the system as fast as it enters, with¬ 
out either increasing, diminishing, or in any way 
disturbing or unbalancing, the action of any 
organ. 

In disease, the actions of the various organs 
are all put forth in obedience to the law of self- 
preservation the same as in health, with the 
difference, however, that in disease the vital ac¬ 
tions are disturbed. They may be increased, di¬ 
minished, or otherwise unbalanced, according to 
varying circumstances and causes; yet these 
actions are all put forth for the purpose of self¬ 
protection—not, however, to keep the body as it 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


3 


then is, but for the purpose of restoring it to the 
condition in which it was before the special cause 
that occasioned the disturbed action was brought 
to bear upon the organism. Hence, disease is 
remedial effort. 

Whenever any action takes place in any part 
of the system, a certain amount of vital force is 
expended, and thus lost to the individual. This 
is because of the wearing out of some of the tis¬ 
sues of the part in exercise. This being the 
case, it is evident that all the vitality of the 
body would soon be expended unless some means 
was provided by which a constant supply might 
be furnished to the tissues. Such a supply is 
furnished by the blood, which is composed of 
water and organic matters derived from the 
food. 

When the vegetable builds itself up, it does so 
by taking certain elementary substances of the 
mineral kingdom, and transforming them into its 
own tissues, at the same time also transforming 
whatever force those elementary substances pos¬ 
sess into vegetable life, or vital force. Whenever 
man or beast eats vegetable food, certain elements 
of the vegetable are converted into flesh, and the 
vital force manifested as vegetable life is trans¬ 
formed into animal life. Now, as all the digested 
food becomes blood before being converted into 
fiesh, and as the flesh loses its vitality by the 
wearing out of its tissues, it is evident that the 
life of the flesh is in the blood, and that the flesh 
may replenish its vitality by renewing its tissues. 
But before this can be done, the broken-down 
tissues must be removed, which is principally 
effected by their combustion, or oxidation, as ex¬ 
plained in the tract entitled “ Good Health,” to 


4 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


wlricli the reader is referred. As there stated, 
these broken-down tissues are burned or oxid¬ 
ized by the oxygen received from the lungs, the 
carbonic-acid gas thus formed being immediately 
absorbed by the red corpuscles of the blood, and 
by them carried away, thus making room for the 
rebuilding of the tissues. 

The reel blood corpuscles are not used as mate¬ 
rial for building up any part of the body, their 
sole office being to convey oxygen from the lungs 
to the capillaries for the purpose of consuming 
the broken-down tissues and then conveying the 
resultant carbonic-acid gas to the lungs for expul¬ 
sion. And by this process heat is generated in 
all parts of the system by the oxidation of the 
wastes of the body. 

As previously stated, it is very important that 
the worn-out tissues should not be permitted to 
accumulate, as by so doing they would hinder 
the rebuilding of the new tissues. To remove 
these with sufficient dispatch, a great amount of 
oxygen is required ; so much, that a quantity of 
blood equal in volume to the whole amount con¬ 
tained in the body is sent to the lungs every 
three minutes for the purpose of throwing 1 off the 
carbonic acid, and of receiving fresh supplies of 
oxygen. 

The truthfulness of the foreoffinor statement 

O O 

may be demonstrated in many ways. If a per¬ 
son with a pulse at seventy or eighty steps 
quickly up a flight of stairs, or runs for a short 
distance, or engages for a few moments in any 
very active exercise, he will find his pulse in¬ 
creased from ten to fifty beats per minute. What 
is the cause of this increased circulation ? Simply 
this: the tissues, in acting to perform the labor 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 5 

required of them, become worn ; and as they can¬ 
not repair the wastes until this worn material 
has been removed, it is necessary for the blood 
to be sent to the lungs much more rapidly than 
on ordinary occasions. 

Thus we see why violent, or even active, ex¬ 
ercise will accelerate the circulation. The accu¬ 
mulation of worn-out material not only prevents 
the repairing of the tissues, but it also prevents 
them from manifesting any vitality. This we see 
whenever the supply of air to the lungs is cut 
off, or whenever the circulation of the blood 
ceases; for, in either of these conditions, the flesh 
begins to weaken, and almost instantly loses its 
strength, and life soon becomes extinct. These 
facts show the importance of a constantly full 
and unimpeded circulation of blood in every part 
of the human system if we would be free from 
disease; for if for any cause the capillary vessels 
in any part of the system become clogged, there 
must of necessity be a stoppage of the circulation 
in that part, and consequently, it will be insuffi¬ 
ciently nourished, the wastes will be improperly 
removed, and the part will not be as active and 
strong as it would have been under other circum- 
stances. 

When any part of the system is clogged with 
unusable substances, or with retained excretions, 
or even by a distension of the blood-vessels, as in 
congestion, nature’s first law, self-protection, re¬ 
quires that an effort be made on the part of the 
organism to remove the obstruction. The effort 
which is thus put forth is disease. 

When the effort is slight, and does not differ 
much from the actions of the system when in 
health, the individual may not be aware that he 


6 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


is diseased; but if the effort is great, or manifests 
itself by any very marked symptoms, requiring 
any very great expenditure of vitality in their 
manifestation, then the individual becomes aware 
that he is sick. It sometimes happens that ob¬ 
structions to the circulation exist for a long time 
before any very great effort for their removal is 
put forth by the system. There may be two 

reasons for this. 1. The individual mav have in- 

«/ 

herited a feeble constitution; 2. He may have 
lived under circumstances which caused the 
gradual yet constant reception into his system of 
the obstructing cause, which, not being cast out 
by a slightly increased activity of all the depu¬ 
rating organs, occasioned the accumulation of for¬ 
eign and effete matters, at the same time over¬ 
taxing some one or more organs, and thus caus¬ 
ing their capillaries to become relaxed, and dis¬ 
tended with impure blood. These organs soon 
cease to perform their functions, and the entire 
system becomes clogged with the effete matter 
which should have been thrown off. The organic 
nervous system (which stands in the same rela¬ 
tion to the vital organs that the brain sustains 
to the organs of voluntary motion) then perceives 
that something is wrong, that there is something 
in the system which is not usable; they con¬ 
sequently call upon the entire system to act for 
the purpose of eradicating these foreign matters 
from the vital domain. 

The circulation may be clogged in various 
ways. The surface or extremities may be chilled, 
and the circulation in those parts thereby become 
impeded, or it may be checked by pressure,’as in the 
wearing o± tight elastics about the limbs, or corsets 
and belts about the waist, or obstructing substances 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 7 

from without may be introduced into the system. 
Any effort on the part of the system to remedy 
the evil, or to remove the obstruction is in exact 
accordance with the principle of self-preservation, 
and is, consequently, a natural action; yet, inas¬ 
much as it differs from the usual actions of the 
vital organs, it is an abnormal, unusual, or dis¬ 
eased action. 

There is another class of causes which occasion 
disease although they do not materially clog the 
system with their own substance. This class is 
by far the most fruitful source of disease of any 
that can be named. It comprises all the poisons 
of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, 
and includes both those which are taken into 
the system from without, and those that are 
engendered within the body. Many of the poi¬ 
sons taken into the system from without occasion 
immediate and prostrating diseases; and, not 
unfrequently, sudden death follows their reception 
into the body. Others do not immediately oc¬ 
casion any serious or marked disturbance of the 
action of the various organs. The manner in 
which these poisons occasion disease is a matter 
which all should understand, for if they do not 
understand how disease is occasioned, they can¬ 
not understand how it should be treated; while 
a person who fully understands the nature and 
cause of a disease will be better able to discern 
the mode of treatment to be adopted to effect a 
cure. 

Of poisons that enter the system from with¬ 
out, perhaps none will better illustrate the 
subject than the malaria which arises from the 
decomposing vegetation of swamps, marshes, and 
other low, wet places. This malarious poison may 


8 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DI3EASF, 


arise from a chicken-yard, or barn-yard, or pig-pen, 
or heap of stable litter, or from a cess-pool, a privy- 
vault, or a swill barrel. It matters not whence 
it comes, whether from decaying vegetables in 
the cellar, under the house, or from the mill-pond; 
from whatever source such emanations arise, they 
mingle with the atmosphere, and are taken with 
the inhaled air into the systems of those who live 
in the vicinity where these poisonous germs are 
originated and diffused. If very little of the 
poison is inhaled, or if the person inhaling it has 
a strong constitution, it will be readily passed 
out by the organs of depuration without causing 
any great disturbance of the vital actions; con¬ 
sequently, no apparent disease is occasioned. The 
same is true of all kinds of poisons if taken in 
sufficiently minute quantities; but no person can 
tell how small a dose may occasion serious dis¬ 
ease, or even death, for the reason that the con¬ 
dition of the system is constantly changing, and 
an amount of poison which at one time, and un¬ 
der one set of circumstances, would result in no 
serious difficulty, may at another time, under 
different circumstances, produce not only serious 
disease, but even death. 

When a small amount of poison is taken into 
the system continuously for any considerable 
length of time, some of the organs of depuration 
become first weary, then weak, and soon they 
fail to do their share of the work, and the system 
becomes clogged, not so much, however, with the 
poison taken into the system as with the effete 
matters which the disabled organs should have 
cast out. 

As some of the organs stop to rest, or, through 
overwork, fail to do their share of the work of 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


9 


keeping the body free from effete matters, other 
organs are called into increased, activity to re¬ 
move the causes of obstruction that have accu¬ 
mulated within the system, and this overwork, 
this increased activity, this remedial effort, is 
disease. 

How to Treat Disease. —Shall we give med¬ 
icines ? Medicines are all poisons, and all act 
in precisely the same manner as do the causes of 
disease, at least, so say the professors of materia 
medica in all the medical colleges in the land; 
and they claim to cure one disease by producing 
another. It is evident that, in attempting to 
cure a disease, we should always seek to remove 
the cause. We have found that disease is always 
occasioned either by poisons engendered within 
the system—retained excretions—or by poisons 
taken into it from without, which may be of ei¬ 
ther mineral, vegetable, or animal origin. Now, 
in case an individual has retained excretions, or 
has taken into his body some poison, what shall 
be done for him ? Shall we give him some other 
poison ? This we shall certainly do if we give 
him medicines; for all medicines are poisons, 
and the doctors say, “ The strongest poisons are 
our best remedies.” I am aware that many of 
my readers will be surprised when I tell them 
that the mildest form of medicine, be it simply a 
cup of tea, or of catnip, or of sage, or any other 
form of herb drink, or any one of the five thou¬ 
sand drugs and compounds which are given the 
sick, if it produces what the doctors call a me¬ 
dicinal effect, it is because it contains a certain 
amount of poison; for the so-called medicinal 
effect of all medicines and poisons is simply an 


10 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


act on the part of the system to reject the medi¬ 
cine or poison and to cast it out. 

Take, for instance, the common tea of China. 
This herb yields a certain extract called theine. 
A few pounds of genuine tea will yield quite an 
amount of this extract, which, if taken in large 
doses will occasion death. So with the herb 
known as peppermint. It yields a volatile oil 
(the oil of peppermint) which will also cause 
death if taken in large doses. The same is true 
of all the herbs that are given as medicine. 
Their poisons may be extracted and taken in 
sufficiently large doses to occasion death; yet 
none of these, when taken in small doses, and at 
long intervals, will occasion any serious difficulty, 
but on the other hand, if taken in doses of proper 
size, would actually afford pleasurable sensations. 
Common tea, if used daily, even of moderate 
strength, will seriously injure the vital machin¬ 
ery by the constant labor which the various or¬ 
gans are obliged to perform in casting the poi¬ 
sonous ingredient out of the system. 

It is true that herb medicines are generally 
much less injurious in their effects than are the 
chemical compounds of the mineral poisons, or 
the viruses, excrements, and various other ani¬ 
mal substances that are in general use as reme¬ 
dies by the medical faculty. It is also true that 
of these vegetable medicines, many roots, barks, 
leaves, flowers, and herbs, may be named that 
possess properties so slightly poisonous that they 
can hardly be classed as poisons; yet if they oc¬ 
casion any medicinal effect, it is simply because 
the little poison they do contain is recognized 
and resisted by the system in precisely the same 
manner that other poisons are. But, in such 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


11 


cases, the amount of poison is so small that the 
action induced is very slight; and, consequently, 
no great injury results from their use unless it 
becomes habitual. Hence, we say, to those who 
will use medicine of some kind, Use only the 
plants and herbs of the field, as by so doing you 
will suffer little damage, although you may re¬ 
ceive no good. 

If a person is sick, the cause of his sickness 
may be retained excretions which have become 
poisonous by changes which have taken place in 
them while in the system, or which are simply 
clogs in the way of the circulation, or it may be 
some poison that has been taken from without. 
In either case, the disease which is occasioned is 
simply an effort on the part of the organism to 
expel the poison. Now, shall we give another 
poison ? if so, what good will it do ? It is sim¬ 
ply adding a second unusable substance to those 
already in the system, and if it is recognized by 
the vital organism, it will be repelled in a manner 
essentially similar to that in which was the first. 
It is true, however, that in repelling the second 
poison the effort to expel the first may be sus¬ 
pended for a time, and that, if the suspension be 
continued sufficiently long for an organic change 
to take place in the organ previously diseased, 
the first disease may not recur, even when the 
second poison has been expelled; but such cases 
are very rare, and when they do occur, it is almost 
invariably the case that the diseased action in¬ 
duced by the medicine results in the most serious, 
and perhaps permanent, injury to the individual. 

To make the matter plain, suppose that a per¬ 
son has inhaled miasmatic poisons for a long time. 
At first, he experiences no ill effects. This is be- 


1 2 NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

cause the depurating organs, being strong and 
active, can do the work of expelling the poison, 
in addition to their customary work, which was 
to excrete the ashes or waste matters resulting 
from the breaking down of the tissues. After a 
time, this continuous overwork reduces the vital¬ 
ity somewhat, and one, or more, of the long over¬ 
worked organs becomes impaired, and is no longer 
able to perform its functions; or it becomes so 
congested with blood and swollen that action is 

O t # 

impossible, their tissues also becoming either soft 
and flaccid, or hard and indurated. 

We will suppose that it is the liver which has 
thus ceased its action; as the result, the bile ele¬ 
ment, which is usually cast out by the liver, is 
retained in the system, as in jaundice and many 
other diseases. As the bile element is constantly 
accumulating, the whole system soon becomes 
filled with it. If the liver fails to act, the blood 
gradually becomes impure, and, in a short time, 
instead of pure, healthy blood being sent to the 
tissues, to impart to them strength and vitality, 
the life fluid is contaminated by the putrid bile 
elements which should have been excreted and 
removed from the body, and the tissues become 
clogged, and thus unable to act, so that life soon 
becomes extinct. 

We now see how the inhaling of malarious poi¬ 
sons causes the clogging up of the system. It 
is not by any act of their own, nor by their own 
bulk; but the depurating organs (that is, those 
which separate impurities from the blood), be¬ 
come worn out, and fail to' perform their usual, 
■work of renovating the wastes of the body, so 
that the system becomes filled with them. Some¬ 
thing of an idea of the amount of waste mate- 



AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


13 


rial that is produced in the system may be ob¬ 
tained by considering the amount of food which 
is daily required to supply the place of that 
which has become worn out. As these impuri¬ 
ties accumulate in the system, their presence is 
recognized by the organic nervous system, which 
is composed of between thirty and forty pairs of 
brain ganglia or nerve centers, which preside over 
the functions of ‘organic life just as the brain 
proper, which is the center of animal life, con¬ 
trols the organs of voluntary motion. The brain 
ganglia, recognizing that something is wrong, in¬ 
duce action in the vital organs for the purpose of 
removing the poisonous substances from the 
blood. At first, there is merely a slightly in¬ 
creased activity of each organ. The circulatory 
organs work a little faster in carrying the blood 
to the organs of depuration; the kidneys, by 
their increased action, throw out a larger quan¬ 
tity of serum, and with it whatever it may hold 
in solution; and so with all the depurating or¬ 
gans. Soon there is a general disturbance in the 
system. The individual feels uncomfortable, is 
weak, in fact, is sick. The doctor is called, feels 
his pulse, and finds that it is ninety or one hun¬ 
dred beats per minute. The flesh is hot, the 
tongue coated, the breath offensive, and he pro¬ 
nounces it a case of fever. He orders, first, a 
purgative, “to cause the bowels to act,” or an 
emetic, to “act upon the stomach.” Then a di¬ 
uretic “ to cause the kidneys to act,” then dia¬ 
phoretics to cause sweating. If these poisons do 
not “ cure ” the disease, he will give alteratives, 
to change its form, or depletents, to lessen the 
vitality if the fever is too high ; or, if the patient 
is fail in o- in strength, he will give tonics to tone 

O O' o 


14 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


up the system • if lie is so weak that he does not 
“ respond ” to the tonic, then stimulants are 
given, and, finally, if the patient is not likely to re¬ 
cover, and is in much pain, narcotics are given to 
destroy the sensibilities so that he may die easily. 
All the way through, the doctor watches the 
symptoms and medicates them; that is, he gives 
medicines which so change the patient’s condi¬ 
tion that he no longer manifes’ts the particular 
symptom. Instead of ascertaining what is the 
cause of the symptom, and removing that, he gives 
a poison which experience has taught him will 
stop that symptom, and this he gives regardless 
of future consequences, and without inquiring 
whether some new complication may not result 
which will be more injurious to the patient than 
the first disease, his sole object being to so change 
the disease that the present symptoms shall be 
no longer manifested. Every one of the medi¬ 
cines given, is a poison; and although they cure 
the disease for which they are administered, they 
do not remove the cause of the disease, but only 
occasion an action in the system to expel these 
very medicines, thus detracting the attention of 
the vital organs from the remedial effort in which 
they were engaged. 

As the medicines enter the system and are ab¬ 
sorbed, their presence is recognized by the brain 
ganglia in the same manner that the nutriment, 
and the wastes, of the body are recognized. These 
brain ganglia discover that the medicine cannot 
be used to replenish any of the tissues of the 
body, and, consequently, that it can be of no pos¬ 
sible use, and should be removed as soon as 
may be. To accomplish this, they direct the 
depurating organs to exercise their functions up- 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


15 


on this new poison; and as the attention of the 
brain ganglia is directed to the new poison, they 
lose sight, as it were, of the first, and, conse¬ 
quently, the actions to get rid of the first poison 
are suspended, so that the attending symptoms 
cease to be manifested; but inasmuch as a new 
set of actions has been set up, new symptoms 
make their appearance. Thus we find it to be 
true that the drug doctors cure one disease by 
producing another. 

The reason why one poison occasions an ex¬ 
cessive excretion of urine, and another a powerful 
operation of the bowels, while a third occasions 
profuse sweating, and a fourth a copious expec¬ 
toration, is because the brain ganglia differ in 
their powers of recognition, just as the nerves of 
the five senses differ, the one from the other. 
The mental perceptions are purely functions of 
the brain, while the vital instincts, or vital per¬ 
ceptions, are purely the functions of the brain 
ganglia, or nerve center of the organic nervous 
system. The brain perceives, or recognizes, things 
through the five organs of sense. Through the 
eye, and by means of the optic nerve which is 
distributed in the eye, the brain is enabled to 
perceive the color, shape, and position, of things. 
Through the olfactory nerve, in the nose, it per¬ 
ceives, or recognizes, the various odors of things. 
Through the gustatory nerve, or nerve of taste, 
it recognizes the gustatory qualities, or the taste, 
of things. Through the nerve of hearing, it rec¬ 
ognizes various sounds and musical tones. And 

o 

through the nerves of feeling, it recognizes the 
texture, structure, size, weight, and various other 
physical properties of objects. We see that each 
of the five senses recognizes peculiar properties of 


1G NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

matter. A person cannot hear the color of things, 
nor taste with the nerve of sight, nor smell with 
the nerve of hearing, nor feel with the nerve of 
taste. Each of these organs differs from each of 
the others, so that the brain recognizes through 
one what it does not through others. 

As before stated, there are between thirty and 
forty pairs of the brain ganglia in the organic 
nervous system. They are situated along either 
side of the spinal column, and it is these brain 
ganglia that have the power of vital perception, 
or recognition, usually known as the vital in¬ 
stincts. These various brain ganglia send out 
nerves to the vital organs, and through those 
nerves perceive, or recognize, the quality of the 
blood and certain properties of its ingredients as 
it passes through the various organs to which 
these nerves are distributed. These brain gan¬ 
glia differ in their vital perceptions, just as va¬ 
rious parts of the brain differ in mental percep¬ 
tions, one part hearing, another part seeing, an¬ 
other feeling, another tasting, and still another 
smelling. One of the brain ganglia recognizes 
certain properties, or qualities, of matter, and an¬ 
other, certain other properties of matter. As be¬ 
fore stated, it is this difference in the vital per¬ 
ceptions of these brain ganglia that causes the 
various organs of depuration to excrete different 
substances from the blood. The reader will need 
to study this part of the subject closely, as an 
understanding of the nature of vital recognition 
and vital action will enable him to understand 
fully why and how drugs affect the system. 

As before stated, these brain ganglia preside 
over, and direct, the vital organs in their actions. 
One set preside over the organs of digestion and 


AND SO-CALLED u ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 17 

circulation; and wlien any substance is received 
into the alimentary canal which is usable in the 
building up of the tissues, this portion of the 
brain ganglia directs the proper organs to digest, 
circulate, and make use of it. Others of the 
brain ganglia preside over the kidneys, and dis¬ 
tribute to them their nerves; so that as the blood 
circulates in them, it comes in contact with these 
nerves, through which the ganglia perceives cer¬ 
tain unusable substances in the blood, and causes 
the kidneys to separate them from it. These sub¬ 
stances are the saline matters which are held in 
solution in the blood. 

Another set of the brain ganglia preside over 
the liver, and perceive other unusable substances 
in the blood. They accordingly direct the liver 
to separate those substances from the blood, 
which, by so doing, produces the bile or gall. 

Another set of ganglia preside over the mu¬ 
cous membrane of the intestines, and direct in 
the separation of certain other unusable matters; 
while another set preside over the sweat glands 
of the skin, directing in the work of separating 
still other matters from the blood ; and still an¬ 
other set preside over the lungs, directing in the 
throwing out of still other unusable matters. 

Thus, we have the urine excreted by the kid¬ 
neys, the bile by the liver, the carbonic-acid gas 
by the lungs, the perspiration by the sweat 
glands, and the fecal matter by the mucous mem¬ 
brane of the intestines. All matter does not pos¬ 
sess the same sensible properties; if it did, we 
would know of but one kind of matter. As it is, 
we can, through the various senses, recognize va¬ 
rious properties of matter; and are thus enabled 

Disease. ^ 


18 NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

to distinguish one object from another.. Many 
kinds of matter possess properties which our 
mental faculties are not able to perceive. Some 
forms of matter that appear, to our external 
senses, just like certain other kinds of matter, are 
found, when taken into the system, to occasion 
entirely different effects. Again, certain articles 
when* taken into the system are found to serious¬ 
ly affect one organ, or set of organs, while all the 
other organs remain unaffected. If, however, 
some other articles are taken into the system, 
some other organs are affected, while those which 
were affected by the first class of articles remain 
unaffected by the last. 

The person who can understand the reason of 
this will be able to understand the whole sub¬ 
ject of the nature and cause of disease, and 
why and how certain effects are occasioned by 
the taking of drugs. He will also be able to an- 
swer the question whether we shall give a sick 
man medicines; whether we shall give a man 
poison because he already has poison in his sys¬ 
tem. A man eats an apple, a piece of bread, or 
some other article of food, and that is the last he 
feels, thinks, or knows, about it. It is digested, 
formed into blood, and circulated through his 
body, and is eventually converted into flesh and 
bone, nerve and sinew; yet he remains wholly 
unconscious of the changes that take place in it, 
or of the means by which these changes are ac¬ 
complished, that is, so far as his mental percep¬ 
tions at the time are concerned. Now let the 
same individual take into his stomach a dose of 
tartar emetic, a little tobacco, or a dose of lobelia; 
how differently he is affected ! Instead of being 
strengthened and nourished, he feels very sick, 


AND SO-CALLED u ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 19 

and presently vomits, continuing so to do until 
the stomach is entirely emptied of its contents. 
Give him a dose of epsom salts, croton oil, aloes, 
rhubarb, or castor oil; what is the effect ? These 
substances are not digested and used as nourish¬ 
ment, neither do they induce vomiting ; but they 
occasion a very copious and offensive discharge 
from the bowels. Give him spirits of nitre, salt¬ 
peter, squill, digitalis, or turpentine, and copious 
urination will be the result. Give him other 
medicines, and profuse sweating will result. Give 
him still others, and he will expectorate freely. 
If each of the medicines named above is given in 
proper doses, it will occasion the effect named, 
and no other. 

Why do not apples cause vomiting, and bread, 
purging ? Why do not boiled or baked potatoes 
cause sweating, and rice,frequent and copious urin¬ 
ation ? Why does not squill cause vomiting, and 
tartar emetic, purging ? Why does not rhubarb 
or aloes cause sweating ? Why do these various 
medicines occasion certain special effects in par¬ 
ticular organs ? Many doctors of medicine inform 
us that it is because certain medicines have a spe¬ 
cial affinity for certain organs; and that “the 
medicine goes through the system seeking out 
from choice those organs and tissues on which it 
can make its impression.” Thus they ascribe to 
drugs a species of intelligence. Right here is 
where almost the entire medical faculty stumble. 
Instead of medicines having special affinities for 
certain organs and tissues of the body, the vital 
organism has a special dislike for drugs, and 
makes a special effort to expel them as rapidly as 
possible. It endeavors, through the kidneys, to 
get rid of all those medicines that are known as 

o 


20 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


diuretics; through the sweat glands to get rid of 
the diaphoretics; through the intestines to get 
rid of the purgatives and cathartics ; through the 
lungs to get rid of the expectorants, and through 
the stomach to get rid of the emetics. Could the 
doctors understand this, they would see that 
drugs are dead, inert things, and that the action 
is all on the part of the living organism. And 
yet the whole subject may be made so plain that 
a child of twelve years can understand it. 

When food is taken into the stomach, it comes 
in contact with the nerves of organic life which 
are distributed to the mucous membrane of the 
stomach, as also to all the vital organs. As the 
food comes in confact with these nerves, the brain 
ganglia that preside over the functions of the 
stomach perceive through them, just as the brain 
perceives through the nerves of feeling, that the 
food is a substance which has certain properties 
that adapt it to the use of the system in building 
up and maintaining the tissues. Recognizing 
this, the brain ganglia direct, or cause, the stom¬ 
ach to digest it, just as the brain wills the hand 
to pick up a book or do other work. After the 
food is digested, the proper organs are directed 
by the nerve center having them in charge to ab¬ 
sorb and circulate it to all parts of the system. 
While this digested food, which has now become 
blood, is passing through the capillaries, the brain 
ganglia which have charge over the building up 
of the tissues direct them to make use of a por¬ 
tion of it to repair or rebuild themselves, as the 
case may require. 

When the tartar emetic is taken into the stom¬ 
ach, the brain ganglia which have charge over 
that organ perceive or recognize through their 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 21 

nerves that a substance has entered the stomach 
which is not adapted to the wants of the system. 
They perceive that the properties of the tartar 
emetic are so unlike the character of the matter 
of which the body is composed that it cannot be 
used. Now as it is the special function of these 
brain ganglia to accept whatever is usable that 
enters the stomach, and to reject whatever is un¬ 
usable, they cause the stomach and abdominal 
muscles to contract spasmodically, thus forcing 
the contents of the stomach up through the 
oesophagus, by this means emptying the stomach 
of its contents. This expulsory action is termed 
vomiting. 

Now what part did the tartar emetic act in 
this whole matter ? None whatever. It was a 
dead, inert thing, incapable of the slightest action. 
Living hands placed it in the mouth, living or¬ 
gans of deglutition swallowed it, or forced it down 
into the stomach. There it was recognized as 
an unusable thing, and a spasmodic contraction 
of living muscles forced it out of the system. In 
this case, the vomiting was an act of self-protec¬ 
tion. The vital organism acted in an unusual 
manner to get rid of the poison (the tartar emet¬ 
ic), and the unusual, disturbed action, the reme¬ 
dial effort, the vomiting, was disease. It is in 
the same manner that all that class of medicines 
known as emetics are recognized and acted upon 
by the system. They are not allowed to enter 
the circulation, but are ejected before being ab¬ 
sorbed. Suppose a child has eaten some indi¬ 
gestible substance, such as old cheese or green 
apples; its stomach tries to digest it, and finding 
it to be difficult of digestion, we will suppose, 
from insufficient mastication, it contracts upon it 


22 NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

with greater force, in order to crush or pulverize 
it so that the gastric juice can thoroughly per¬ 
meate and so digest it. This contraction causes 
pain or cramp, and the child becomes very sick; 
yet the disease is simply an effort on the part of 
the stomach to remedy the evils resulting from 
swallowing food half masticated. If the stom¬ 
ach succeeds in grinding the food, then the con¬ 
tractions cease, the disease is ended, and the child 
is well. If, however, it does not succeed, the 
brain ganglia which have charge of the stomach 
notify other ganglia which have charge over the 
entire muscular system, and they are called into 
action, and the child has convulsions. Now, what 
are these convulsions ? They are simply the con¬ 
tractions of various muscles which act in obedi¬ 
ence to the nerve centers which preside over 
them, and which have perceived that something 
which is not usable in its present condition is in 
the system, and these various muscles are directed 
to contract so as to help remedy the evil. 

It must be remembered that the brain ganglia, 
or nerve centers, are not intelligent. They sim¬ 
ply discover that something is wrong, and, mak¬ 
ing this discovery, set the organs over which they 
respectively preside, at work to remedy the diffi¬ 
culty. It must also be remembered that the or¬ 
gans over which these nerve centers preside, can 
only act, each in its own manner, and that while 
they may not accomplish anything whatever to¬ 
ward remedying the existing evil, or in removing 
the obstruction, the action is nevertheless induced 
for that purpose. Many a child has convulsions 
which are caused by the presence of indigestible 
food in its stomach, and although the effort is un¬ 
successful, yet it was put forth solel} 7- as a reme- 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


23 


dial effort. The nerve centers, finding that the 
contractions of the muscular coats of the stom¬ 
ach were insufficient to crush the unchewed food, 
call the entire muscular system into action; think¬ 
ing, so to speak, that by one powerful effort it 
may accomplish its object. We will suppose that 
a doctor has been called to see a case of convul¬ 
sions caused in the manner described. He gives 
an emetic, which produces vomiting, as before 
described, at the same time causing a most deathly 
feeling in the patient, which is only relieved when 
the contents of the stomach have been expelled. 
Thus he cures one disease by producing another. 
In this case, however, the cause of the first dis¬ 
ease was removed, and had there been no other 
way to remove it, the giving of the emetic would 
have been proper, although the new disease was 
the cause of much distress. But there is a better 
way than the giving of poisons. Give the child 
a few glasses of warm water, not hot, then tickle 
its throat, and the stomach will void its contents 
with very little distress or discomfort to the child. 

We will now take some one of that class of 
medicines that are said to act directly on the 
kidneys, and are known as diuretics. The prop¬ 
erties of this class of poisons are not recognized 
/by the nerve centers which preside over the 
stomach, hence, vomiting does not occur. The 
poisons are dissolved and mingled with the fluids 
of the stomach, and are absorbed and passed di¬ 
rectly into the circulation, being then carried to 
all parts of the system in the blood without do¬ 
ing any harm or causing any disturbance until 
they reach, the kidneys. Immediately upon so 
doing, they come in contact with the nerves which 
are freely distributed there, and through these 






24 NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

nerves, the brain ganglia having charge over the 
work of the kidneys, which have the power of jj 
recognizing this class of poisons, perceive that 
something is mingled with the blood which is not 
usable in the system, and so they excite the 
kidneys to increased activity in excreting and 
separating this poison from the blood. Why did 
not these diuretics occasion vomiting ? Simply 
because they were not recognizable by the nerve 
centers which preside over the stomach. 

Let us now examine that class of medicines 
known as purgatives. Why is it that these do 
not occasion vomiting, nor increased action of the 
kidneys, nor sweating ? It is because these poi¬ 
sons have no properties that are recognizable by 
the nerve centers which preside over the stom¬ 
ach, kidneys, and sweat glands. But they do 
possess properties that are recognized by the 
nerve centers which preside over the mucous 
membrane of the intestines, and the minute 
structures of this membrane are set at work to 
throw these poisons out of the system, which 
they do by separating them from the blood, to¬ 
gether with some of the serum, all of which is 
thrown into the cavity of the intestine. As these 
substances accumulate, their weight or presence 
induces a peristaltic movement of the bowels 
which casts them, and whatever feerd matter may 
be present, out of the body. 

It is in this manner that drugs, medicines, and 
poisons of every kind occasion unusual vital ac¬ 
tion in the various organs of the body; and this ac¬ 
tion is disease. The professors of materia medica 
in the various medical colleges are riefht when 
they say that “medicines when in the human 
system act as do the causes of disease,” and that 



AND SO-CALLED u ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 25 

“ medicines cure one disease by producing an¬ 
other.” In order that the reader may fully un¬ 
derstand this matter, we will recapitulate a few 
of the propositions already laid down. 

1. In all the relations between living and dead 
matter, the living only is active. 

2. There are two classes of perceptive organs 
in the body. 1. The brain, to which belong.the 
functions of mental perceptivity; 2. The brain 
ganglia or nerve centers of the organic nervous 
system, to which belong the functions of vital 
perceptivity. 

3. The brain takes cognizance of things exter¬ 
nal to the body whether they are in contact with 
the body or not; while the brain ganglia take 
cognizance of those things only which are within 
the system, and are in contact with the nerves 
of organic life. The brain induces action in the 
organs of voluntary motion and causes them to 
act in accordance with its recognition of external 
objects, no matter whether its recognition is cor¬ 
rect or not; thus leading a man to treat his mor¬ 
tal enemy with the greatest kindness if he comes 
to him in the disguise of a friend, but causing him 
to quickly change his conduct toward him when 
his true character becomes known. Thus we see 
that all the voluntary motions of our bodies ex¬ 
actly correspond to our mental recognitions. The 
brain does not recognize the properties or condi¬ 
tions of substances or organs within the body, 
and has no control over the vital organs, as they 
act involuntarily. 

4. The brain ganglia to which belong the 
power and function of vital perceptivity, or vital 
recognition, differ in their perceptive powers so 
that while one set perceive one class of substances, 



26 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


another set perceive another class. These gan¬ 
glia induce actions in the various organs over 
which they preside; and those actions always 
correspond to, or are in accordance with, the vital 
perceptions, so that if a substance within the 
system is recognized as being usable, there is an 
effort made to use it; or if it is recognized as not 
usable, there is an effort made to expel it. 

5. The nerve centers, or brain ganglia, have 
every organ and tissue of the body under their 
control, so that even the organs of voluntary 
motion at times act without the control of the 
will, being directed by the nerve centers instead 
of the brain. 

6. Whenever a nerve center recognizes any¬ 
thing in the system that is not usable, the organ, 
or organs, over which that special nerve center 
presides, is set at work for the purpose of expell¬ 
ing the poison. 

Whether the efforts of the organ thus acting to 
expel the poison are successful or not depends 
wholly upon the nature of the work usually per¬ 
formed by the organ. If the organ thus acting 
is a depurating organ, it will throw the morbid 
matter or poison out of the system, and the ef¬ 
fort will be successful; but if some other organ 
is called into action, the effort will be unsuccess¬ 
ful. YvTiat has thus far been presented is with¬ 
out doubt clear to the reader; but right here we 
come to a point which it is hard to make the 
doctors understand, and which may appear hard 
for the common people to understand. The que¬ 
ry is often raised, If disease is remedial effort, 
why do people die of disease ? why are not these 
remedial efforts successful ? To this it may be 
replied, While it is true that the nerve centers 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 27 

possess the property of vital perception, they do 
not possess intelligence. They cannot reason 
from cause to effect; they can only distinguish 
between those substances in the system that are 
usable, and those that are not usable. As al¬ 
ready shown, whenever a nerve center discovers 
that there is something in the system that is not 
usable, it induces an action in the organ over 
which it presides, to remove that substance from 
the body. If the nerve center that presides over 
the stomach discovers an obnoxious substance in 
that organ, vomiting is induced to get rid of it, 
and the effort is successful. If the nerve center 
that presides over the liver makes the discovery 
that some obnoxious or unusable substance is in 
the system, the liver is influenced to increase its 
action, and as a consequence, more than the 
usual amount of bile is excreted. If the nerve 
centers that control the action of the kidneys 
make the discovery, the kidneys will work faster, 
and more urine will be excreted. The same 
principle applies, also, to the other depurat¬ 
ing organs, each of which performs its proper 
work when called into action by the presence in 
the system of those substances which it is its 
peculiar function to remove. If the nerve cen¬ 
ters which preside over the mucous membranes 
of the intestines make the discovery, the excret¬ 
ing cells of this membrane will be set at work, 
and there will be an accumulation of fecal matter 
in the intestine. 

If it is the nerve center that presides over the 
mucous membrane of the air tubes and cells, there 
will be a greater amount of mucus, or phlegm, 
thrown out into the passages. In each of these 
cases, the effort is more or less successful, because 



28 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


the organs through which the effort is made, are 
organs whose special function it is to eliminate 
impurities from the system. If, however, the 
nerve centers which preside over the circulatory 
organs become acquainted with the fact that 
there is unusuable material in the system, they 
induce increased activity in the circulatory or¬ 
gans and the blood circulates faster, as may be 
readily seen by the changed condition of the 
pulse; but no impurities are thrown out; for this 
is not the function of the circulatory organs. If 
the nerve centers that preside over the salivary 
glands are the ones that recognize the poison, or 
if thev, through the nerves that connect them 
with other nerve centers learn from those centers 
that such unusable substances are in the system, 
there will be an action induced in the salivary 
glands to expel the poisons; but the effort would 
be unsuccessful; for the work of depuration is 
no part of the functions of the salivary glands; 
they can only secrete saliva. The muscles ean 
only contract; hence, if the nerve center that 
presides over the muscles becomes acquainted with 
the fact of the presence of poisons, or unusable 
substances, in the system, they, acting in accord¬ 
ance with the law of self-preservation, induce in¬ 
voluntary contraction of the muscular fibers, and 
cramp or convulsion follows. In this case the 
cramp or convulsion is not successful in purifying 
the system; for the muscles are not organs 
through which depuration can take place ; yet 
the effort that is made through them is remedial 
effort. Hence, it is claimed that all disease is 
remedial effort whether it is successful or not. 

There are poisons which have many properties, 
some of which are recognized by one set of nerve 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


29 


centers, and some by others; so that one poison 
will olten induce action in several organs. This 
is only because several organs are set about the 
work of eliminating that poison. Another fact 
worthy of consideration is that all of the brain 
ganglia are connected, the one with another, by 
an intricate net-work of nerves which also con¬ 
nects them with the brain. Whenever any one of 
these ganglia perceives that there is something 
in the system which is not usable, and which it 
cannot remove, it has then the power to notify 
another one of the ganglia, and procure its assist¬ 
ance, which is rendered b} 7 setting the organ over 
which it presides at work. 

Perhaps the disease known as gout, or rheuma¬ 
tism, will illustrate this subject better than any 
other. 

Gout is a disease of the joints of the toes. 
Mineral matters, either acid or alkaline in their 
natures, exist in the blood; and as these sub¬ 
stances pass through the structure of the syno¬ 
vial membrane of the joints of the toes, the nerve 
centers which preside over those organs perceive 
them, and they set the dense tissues of the or¬ 
gans at work to expel these substances. But as 
these are not depurating organs, they cannot suc¬ 
cessfully accomplish the task ; they can only cre¬ 
ate heat by their friction, and, as a result, inflam¬ 
mation ensues. The nerve centers which made 
the first attempt, finding themselves unsuccess¬ 
ful in their efforts, now communicate with other 
nerve centers which have charge over organs sim¬ 
ilar in character, that is, other joints, and the in¬ 
dividual has rheumatism in the knee, hip, back, 
or shoulder. Now if we should attempt to cure 
the rheumatism, as many do, by giving an alka- 


30 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


line or an acid poison, we would be very likely to 
aggravate the disease. As we add to the poison, 
the nerve centers that have charge over the mem¬ 
branes which line the cavities of the body (these 
membranes being similar in structure and func¬ 
tion to the synovial membranes of the joints), 
recognize the existence of these poisons, and the 
membranes over which they preside are set at 
work to throw it out. It may be the peritoneal 
membrane of the abdomen, or the pleura of the 
thorax, or the pericardium which surrounds the 
heart, or the dura-mater which envelopes the 
brain. 

The only work that it is possible for any of 
these last-named membranes to perform, is to se¬ 
crete a watery fluid that shall keep the various 
organs which they surround moist and well lubri¬ 
cated, so that there shall be no friction of the 
parts. Now, when these membranes are set at 
work with an increased activity, the only thing 
that they can do is to secrete an extra amount of 
this fluid, and pour it out into the cavities which 
they inclose. This is dropsy. If the peritoneum 
is the active or diseased membrane, the water 
collects in the cavity of the abdomen; if the pleu¬ 
ra, then the water collects in the chest or thorax; 
but if the dura-mater is the diseased membrane, 
water collects about the brain. The first is dropsy 
of the abdomen; the second, dropsy of the chest; 
the third, dropsy of the brain; while if the wa¬ 
ter collects in the pericardium, or heart-case, we 
have dropsy of the heart. 

It is often the lining membrane of the capilla¬ 
ries that is set at work, in which case the water 
collects among the loose tissues of the body, pro¬ 
ducing general dropsy. 


AND SO-CALLED l( ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 31 

Why was this water thrown out ? Simply be¬ 
cause the only function which these membranes 
can perform is to secrete this peculiar kind of 
fluid; and as they are under the direction of the 
nerve centers, when they are incited to greater 
activity, they do the only thing they can do. All 
this is an effort to remove something from the 
system ; yet as these membranes are not depurat¬ 
ing organs, the effect is unsuccessful. Sometimes, 
in cases of rheumatism, when drug medicines are 
given, the action induced in the membranes men¬ 
tioned, whose structure and function are similar 
to those of the inflamed synovial membrane in the 
rheumatic joint, is so great, that instead of water 
being thrown out, the action is entirely stopped, 
inflammation of the membrane follows, death 
speedily results, and the patient is said to have 
died of rheumatism of the heart, stomach, etc. 

We might also notice the disease known as 
mumps. This is a disease of the salivary glands. 
It consists of an inflamed condition of these or¬ 
gans induced by the nerve centers that preside 
over them, they having discovered impurities of 
some kind in the blood during its circulation 
through these glands. Now, if the patient suf¬ 
fering with mumps takes cold, the diseased ac¬ 
tion is greatly increased, and the nerve centers 
that preside over organs similar in structure and 
function to the salivary glands are invited to as¬ 
sist in the work, which they do by setting the 
respective organs over which they preside at 
work. These are the testes in the male, and the 
breasts, or mammary glands, in the female. 

There are other diseases in which all the nerve 
centers are called on to assist, as in fever, in which 
disease there is a general disturbance of all the 


32 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


vital functions. Now, all disease is caused by 
some poison or unusable substance that lias found 
its way into the system from without, or that 
has been engendered within, and all medicines 
that are capable of occasioning a medicinal effect 
are poisons, and always occasion a diseased action 
in some part of the body, the disease being the 
actions that are set up to rid the system of the 
poison. In reply, then, to the question, Shall we 
give medicine to a sick man ? we say, most em¬ 
phatically, No. 

Medical men have, in all ages, observed that 
certain medicines occasioned special results in 
certain organs, while other medicines occasioned 
different results in the same or other organs; 
hence, they have attempted to classify medicines, 
calling one an emetic, another a purgative, and 
another a diuretic, etc.; but this classification 
has been entirely based upon an erroneous theory 
of the nature and cause of disease. Many physi¬ 
cians have supposed that the effect occasioned 
in the various organs by these medicines was oc¬ 
casioned by the action of the medicine upon the 
organ, and by the medicine acting upon it in some 
manner when it was diseased, in which it would 
not, or could not, have done when in health. 
They supposed that the medicine acted in some 
manner for the purpose of curing the sick 
organ. Others have supposed that the action 
was all performed by the diseased organ, and 
that the organ used the medicine to cure itself 
with. Others, still, have claimed that all medi¬ 
cines antidoted poisons in the system by com¬ 
bining chemically with them, and that they cured 
disease by so doing. 

All of these classes of physicians have expected 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


33 


that in the good time coming, when medical 
science should have been perfected, every disease 
would have one or more unfailing remedies, and 
that the medical practitioner would know just 
what to give his patient in every disease from 
which he might suffer. If the theories of the ac¬ 
tion of medicine just mentioned, were either of 
them true, then we might expect just such a time 
as has been looked for by some medical men of 
past times. 

We have already shown that all the phenom¬ 
ena that are manifested as the result of taking 
medicines are simply the action of some or all of 
the vital organs in their efforts to expel the med¬ 
icine from the system; and it is easy to under¬ 
stand that these vital efforts cannot be made 
without an expenditure of vital force just in pro¬ 
portion to the effort made. As the vital force is 
expended in the performance of these actions, 
there is a consequent weakening of the system, 
a lowering of the vitality of the patient; so that 
instead of the patient’s vitality being augmented, 
it is greatly diminished, by the use of medicine. 

The question may be asked right here if medi¬ 
cines never cure disease. To this query we an¬ 
swer, Medicines stop the disease, and if that can 
be called curing, then medicines cure disease. 

But here is a point to be considered. Disease, 
we have shown to be vital action; therefore, 
whatever stops the disease, stops vital action. 
How do medicines stop vital action ? They are 
the cause of the expenditure of vital force in an 
attempt to cast the medicine out of the system. 
When a person has fever, for instance, the doctor 
gives medicine to cure, or stop, the fever. The 


34 NATURE AND CAUSE OP DISEASE, 

vitality that was previously used in the fever 
action in an endeavor to expel bilious matters and 
other retained excretions, is now used in an en¬ 
deavor to expel the medicine. The fever stops, 
or is cured, because there is not vitality sufficient 
to expel both poisons at once. We should never 
seek to cure a disease by any means that will use 
up any considerable amount of the patient’s vi¬ 
tality ; for if we do, we shall be killing the pa¬ 
tient while curing the disease. 

We have already seen that disease is remedial 
effort; therefore, whoever stops a disease, stops 
remedial effort. We should never stop remedial 
effort, we should only control and assist it. We 
cannot accomplish this by giving medicines, we 
can only cause a new remedial effort, an effort to 
expel the medicine; and this new effort is always 
made without any reference whatever to the 
previous efforts that were being made to expel 
other poisons. It will not be contended for a 
moment that the lives of men have not, in any 
instance, been saved by taking medicines ; for it 
is quite possible that this may have been the 
case. But when we take a look at the grave¬ 
yards, and read upon the tombstones the ages of 
those who lie buried there, v r e find that nearly 
all were cut down by the cruel hand of death 
before they attained to old age. Almost the en¬ 
tire race of men in past generations have died of 
disease, yet they took medicines in their last 
sickness. Why did not the medicine save them ? 
A physician may have ten patients. He gives 
them all medicine—five get well, and five die. 
What right has he to say that his medicines 
cured the five that recovered ? How does he 
know but they would have recovered sooner 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 35 

if they had not taken his poisons ? How does 
he know but that the five who died would have 
recovered if they had not expended their vitality 
in expelling the poisons he gave them. Drugs 
and medicines probably send more persons to un¬ 
timely graves than do all other causes combined. 
One reason for believing this is this : Disease is 
vital action put forth to expel some unusable 
substance, or poison, from the system; and, from 
the nature of things, it is evident that when the 
foreign substance is expelled, the disease will 
stop of itself; for the cause being removed, the 
effect must cease. Therefore, diseases are self¬ 
limited if let alone; but if other poisons are in¬ 
troduced, the vital organs wear themselves out in 
their efforts to keep the body free. If we wish 
to “live long in the land,” we must eschew all 
drugs and medicines. That there are others who 
hold to these views, the reader will see by the 
following extracts taken from the sayings and 
writings of noted medical men as quoted by R. 
T. Trail, M. D., President of the New York Hy- 
geio-Therapeutic Medical College, in a lecture 
before his medical class :— 

Professor Alex. H. Stevens, M. D., of the New 
York College of Physicians and Surgeons, in a 
recent lecture to the medical class said: “ The 
older physicians grow, the more skeptical they 
become of the virtues of medicine, and the more 
they are disposed to trust to the powers of nat¬ 
ure.” Again: “ Notwithstanding all of our boast¬ 
ed improvements, patients suffer as much as they 
did forty years ago.” 

The venerable Professor Jos. M. Smith, M. D., 
of the same school, testifies: “ All medicines 
which enter the circulation, poison the blood in 


36 NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

the same manner as do the poisons that produce 
disease.” Again: “ Drugs do not cure disease; 
disease is always cured by the vis medicatrix 
naturae”* 

Says Professsor C. A. Gilman, M. D., of the 
same school: “ Many of the chronic diseases of 
adults are caused by the maltreatment of infan¬ 
tile diseases.” Again : “ Blisters nearly always 
produce death when applied to children.” Again : 
“ I give mercury to children when I wish to de¬ 
press the powers of life.” And again: “ The ap¬ 
plication of opium to the true skin of an infant 
is very likely to produce death” And yet again : 
“a single drop of laudanum will often destroy 
the life of an infant.” And once more: “Four 
grains of calomel will often hill an adult.” And, 
finally: “ A mild mercurial course, and mildly 
cutting a man's throat , are synonymous terms.” 

Says Professor Alonzo Clark, M. D., of the 
same school: “From thirty to sixty grains of 
calomel have been given very young children for 
croup.” Again: “ Apoplectic patients, who are 
not bled, have double the chance to recover that 
those have who are bled.” And again : “ Physi¬ 
cians have learned that more harm than good 
has been done by the use of drugs in the treat¬ 
ment of measles, scarlatina, and other self-limited 
diseases.” And yet again: “ My experience is, 
that croup can't well be cured; at least, the suc¬ 
cess of treatment is very doubtful. A different 
mode of treatment is introduced yearly, to be 
succeeded by another the next year.” Once 
more: “ Ten thousand times ten thousand meth¬ 
ods have been tried, in vain, to cure diabetes.” 


* The restoring power of nature. 







AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 37 

Still another: “ In their zeal to do good, physi¬ 
cians have done much harm. They have hurried 
many to the grave who would have recovered if 
left to nature/’ And, finally : “ All of our cura¬ 
tive agents are poisons; and, as a consequence, 
every dose diminishes the patient’s vitality.” 

Says Professor W. Parker, M. D., of the same 
school: “ Of all sciences, medicine is the most 

uncertain.” 

Says Professor B. F. Baker, M. D., of the same 
school: “ The drugs which are administered for 

the cure of scarlet fever and measles, kill far 
more than the diseases do. I have recently given 
no medicine in their treatment, and have had 
excellent success.” 

Says Professor J. W. Carson, M. D., of the same 
school: “ It is easy to destroy the life of an in¬ 

fant. This you will find when you enter prac¬ 
tice. You will find that a slight scratch of the 
pen, which dictates a little too much of a remedy, 
will snuff out the infant’s life; and when you 
next visit your patient, you will find that the 
child which you left cheerful a few hours pre¬ 
vious is stiff and cold. Beware, then, how you 
use your remedies !” Again : “We do not know 
whether our patients recover because we give 
medicine, or because nature cures them. Perhaps 
bread-pills would cure as many as medicine.” 

Says Professor E. S. Carr, M. D., of the New 
York University Medical School: “All drugs are 
more or less adulterated; and as not more than 
one physician in a hundred has sufficient knowl¬ 
edge in chemistry to detect impurities, the phy¬ 
sician seldom knows just how much of a remedy 
he is prescribing.” Again : “ Mercury, when ad¬ 
ministered in any form, is taken into the circula- 


38 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


tion and carried to every tissue of the body. The 
effects of mercury are not for a day, but for all 
time. It often lodges in the bones, occasionally 
causing pain years after it is administered. I 
have often detected metallic mercury in the bones 
of patients who had been treated with this sub¬ 
tile poisonous agent ” 

Says Professor S. St. John, M. D., of the same 
school: “ All medicines are poisonous.” 

Says Professor A. Dean, LL. D., of the same 
school: “ Mercury, when introduced into the sys¬ 
tem, always acts as a poison.” 

Says Professor Martin Paine, M. D., of the same 
school: “ Our remedial agents are themselves 
morbific.” Again : “ Our medicines act upon 

the system in the same manner as do the remote 
causes of disease .” And again: <£ Drug medicines 
do but cure one disease by producing another.” 

Says Professor S. D. Gross, M. D., late of the 
New York University Medical School, now of 
the Louisville (Ky.) Medical College: “ Of the 
essence of disease very little is known; indeed, 
nothing at all.” 

These testimonies were taken from the lips of 
the professors to whom they are attributed, as 
they lectured before their classes in the most 
noted medical colleges in the United States. 

To the foregoing statements, we add the fol¬ 
lowing from some of the standard authors of the 
allopathic school of medicine, as cpioted by Dr. 
Trail:— 

“ I have no faith whatever in medicine.”—D r. 
Bailie, of London. 

“ The medical practice of our day is, at the 
best, a most uncertain and unsatisfactory sys¬ 
tem; it lias neither philosophy nor common 



AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 39 

sense to commend it to confidence,”— Professor 
Evens, Fellow of the Royal College, London. 

“ Gentlemen, ninety-nine out of every hundred 
medical facts are medical lies ; and medical doc¬ 
trines are, for the most part, stark , staring non¬ 
sense” —Professor Gregory, of Edinburgh, Scot¬ 
land. 

u I incessantly led to make an apology for 
the instability of the theories and practice of 
physic. Those physicians generally become the 
most eminent who have most thoroughly eman¬ 
cipated themselves from the tyranny of the 
schools of medicine. Dissections daily convince 
us of our ignorance of disease, and cause us to 
blush at our prescriptions. What mischiefs have 
we not done under the belief of false facts and 
false theories ! We have assisted in multiplying 
diseases ; we have done more; we have increased 
their fatality — Benjamin Rush, M. D., formerly 
Professor in the first Medical College in Philadel¬ 
phia. 

“ It cannot be denied that the present system 
of medicine is a burning shame to its professors, 
if indeed a series of vague and uncertain incon- 
gruities deserves to be called by that name. 
How rarely do our medicines do good! How 
often do they make our patients really worse ! 
I fearlessly assert that in most cases the sufferer 
would be safer without a physician than with 
one. I have seen enough of the mal-practice of 
my professional brethren to warrant the strong 
language I employ.”— Dr. Damage, Fellow of the 
Royal College, London. 

“ Assuredly, the uncertain and most unsatisfac¬ 
tory art that we call medical science, is no science 
at all , but a jumble of inconsistent opinions; of 


40 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


conclusions hastily, and often incorrectly, drawn ; 
of facts misunderstood or perverted ; of compar¬ 
isons without analogy; of hypotheses without 
reason, and theories not only useless, hut dan¬ 
gerous”—Dublin Medical Journal. 

“ Some patients get well with the aid of medi¬ 
cine ; more without it; and still more in spite 
of it,” — Sir John Forbes, M. D., F. R. S., Physi¬ 
cian to Queen Victoria. 

“ Thousands are often slaughtered in the quiet 
sick-room. Governments should at once either 
banish medical men, and proscribe their blunder¬ 
ing art, or they should adopt some better means 
to protect the lives of the people than at present 
prevail, when they look far less after the practice 
of this dangerous profession , and the murders 
committed in it, than at the lowest trades.”— Dr. 
Frank, an eminent European Author and Prac¬ 
titioner. 

Let us no longer wonder at the lamentable 
want of success which marks our practice, when 
there is scarcely a sound physiological principle 
among us. I hesitate not to declare, no matter 
how sorely I shall wound our vanity, that so 
gross is our ignorance of the real nature of the 
physiological disorder called disease, that it would, 
perhaps, be better to do nothing, and resign the 
complaint into the hands of nature, than to act as 
we are frequently compelled to do, without know¬ 
ing the why and the wherefore of our conduct, 
at the obvious risk of hastening the end of our 
patient.” — M. Magendia, the eminent French 
Physiologist and Pathologist. 

“ I may observe that, of the whole number of 
fatal cases in infancy, a great proportion occur 
from the inappropriate or undue application of 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 


41 


exhausting remedies —Dr. Marshall Halt., 
the distinguished English Physiologist. 

“ Our actual information or knowledge of dis¬ 
ease does not increase in proportion to our ex¬ 
perimental practice. Every dose of medicine 
given is a blind experiment on the vitality of the 
patient.” —Dr. Bostwick, author of the “ History 
of Medicine.” 

“ I wish not to detract from the exalted pro¬ 
fession to which I have the honor to belong, and 
which includes many of my warmest and most 
valued friends; yet it can not answer to my con¬ 
science to withhold the acknowledgement of my 
firm belief, that the medical profession (with its 
prevailing mode of practice) is productive of 
vastly move evil than good; and were it abso¬ 
lutely abolished, mankind would be infinitely the 
gainer .”— Francis Coggswell, M. D., of Boston. 

“ The science of medicine is a barbarous jar¬ 
gon ■, and the effects of our medicines on the hu¬ 
man system in the highest degree uncertain, ex¬ 
cept, indeed, that they have destroyed more lives 
than war, pestilence, and famine combined.”— 
John Mason Good, M. D., F. R. S., author of 
“ Book of Nature,” “ A System of Nosology,” 
“ Study of Medicine,” etc. 

“ I declare, as my conscientious conviction, 
founded on long experience and reflection, that 
if there was not a single physician, surgeon, 
man-midwife, chemist, apothecary, druggist, nor 
drug on the face of the earth, there would be 
less sickness and less mortality than now prevail.” 
—James Johnson, M. D., F. R. S., editor of the 
Medico-Chirurgical Review. 

The following declaration was deliberately 
adopted and recorded by the National Medical 


42 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


Convention held in St. Louis, Mo., a lew years 
since:— 

“ It is wholly incontestible that there exists a 
wide-spread dissatisfaction with what is called the 
regular or old allopathic system of medical prac¬ 
tice. Multitudes of people in this country and 
in Europe express an utter want of confidence in 
physicians and their physic. The cause is evi¬ 
dent : erroneous theory , and, springing from it, 
injurious, often— very often— fatal practice 1 
Nothing will now subserve the absolute requisi¬ 
tions of an intelligent community but a medical 
doctrine grounded upon right reason, in harmony 
with and vouched by the unerring laws of na¬ 
ture and of the vital organism, and authenticated 
and confirmed by successful results.” 

The reader will see by the foregoing quotations 
that the practitioners of the drug system of 
medication condemn the use of drugs and medi¬ 
cines in full as severe terms as can well be done. 

Let us now see what some of these same men 
say concerning the healing powers of nature, and 
the use of hygienic agents in the treatment of 
disease. 

Says Prof. Parker: “ As we place more confi¬ 
dence in nature, and less in preparations of the 
apothecary, mortality diminishes” Again: “Hy¬ 
giene is of far more value in the treatment of 
disease than drugs.” And again: “ I wish the 
materia medica was in Guinea, and that you 
would study materia alimentaria” And yet 
again : “ You are taught learnedly about materia 
medica , and but little about diet.” Once more : 
“We will have less mortality when people eat to 
live.” And, finally : “ I have cured granulations 
of the eyes, in chronic conjunctivitis, by hygienic 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DllUOS. 43 

treatment, after all kinds of drug applications had 
failed." 

> Says Professor Carson: “ Water is the best 
diaphoretic we have.” Again: “ My preceptor 
used to give colored water to his patients ; and it 
was noticed that those who took the water re¬ 
covered more rapidly than those of another phy¬ 
sician who bled his patients.” 

Says Professor Barker : “ The more simple the 
treatment in infantile diseases, the better the re¬ 
sult .” 

Says Professor Peaslee: “ Water constitutes 
about eight-tenths of the weight of the human 
body, and is its most indispensable constituent.” 
Again : “Water is the only necessary—the only 
natural—drink.” 

Says Professor Gilman: “ Every season has its 
fashionable remedy for consumption; but hygi¬ 
enic ' treatment is of far more value than all 
drugs combined.” Again : “ Cold affusion is the 
best antidote for narcotic poisoning. If the med¬ 
ical profession were to learn and appreciate this 
fact [why do n’t they learn it ?], the number 
of deaths from narcotism would be diminished 
one-half.” And again he says: “The continued 
application of cold water has more power to pre¬ 
vent inflammation than any other remedy.” 
And yet again : “ The application of water to the 
external surface of the abdomen is of great im¬ 
portance and value in the treatment of dysen¬ 
tery. I have also cured adults by this means 
alone.” Once more : “ Water is equal in efficacy, 
as a diuretic, to all other diuretics combined. 
Water is the thing that produces diuresis; all 
other means are subordinate.” And, finally: 
“ Water is the best febrifuge we have.” 


44 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


Says Professor Smith: “ The vapor of warm 
water is the most efficacious expectorant we 
have / 5 Again: “ Abstinence from food is one 
of the most powerful antiphlogistic means / 5 

The following extracts are from a lecture deliv¬ 
ered in course before an Association of Physicians 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., by Prof. Samuel G. Armor, M. 
D., of the Long Island College Hospital:— 

“The study of therapeutics, as we shall see, is 
beset with many difficulties, none of which are 
more prominent than our want of knowledge of 
the natural history of disease. The bearing of 
this upon our therapeutic reasonings must be at 
once apparent. Usually we see but one side of 
the question, and find it difficult, therefore, to 
form a proper estimate of what belongs to Nature 
and what to Art. Drugs are administered, pa¬ 
tients recover, and we suppose we have cured 
them; whereas our remedies may have had little 
or nothing to do with the recovery; very likely 
it took place in spite of our drugs. 

“This mistake of sequence for a consequence 
appears to be one of the most natural to which 
the human mind is reliable. We encounter it in 
every department of physical science, and in none, 
perhaps, more than in estimating the curative 
value of drugs. Many reasons might be assigned 
why this is so, one or two of which I may men¬ 
tion. In the first place, we have no distinct in¬ 
struction in the natural history of disease—I 
mean, uninfluenced by drugs. Nor have we any 
liekl for observation. Call to mind, if you can, a 
single instance in which you watched the course, 
progress, and termination of disease, uninfluenced 
by remedies of some kind. 

“ And we have not only no field for observation, 


AND SO-CALLED u ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 45 

but we find it difficult to create one. The natural 
instinct to seek relief from suffering and danger 
prompts all ranks and grades of people to put 
themselves under some sort of treatment. More¬ 
over, physicians, from prejudices of education, as 
well as from conscientious convictions of duty, 
rarely omit the ordinary remedies in severe dis¬ 
ease. 

Just here, then, is a defect in our therapeutic 
literature which we find it difficult to correct. 
Our libraries are full of books on therapeutics 
proper, but contain few on nature’s power of cur¬ 
ing disease. And yet there would seem to be no 
good reason why, if nature has the power of cre¬ 
ating disease, she may not have the power of cur¬ 
ing the same, and that she has such power there 
can be no doubt. 

“It is an old aphorism that ‘physicians cure 
— i. e., “take care of”-—but nature heals.’ In 
visible diseases, surgical so-called, nobody doubts 
that this is the case. The surgeon does not cure 
the fracture, the wound, or the ulcer; he merely 
guides the operations of nature, removes obsta¬ 
cles, and the vital power restores to health. 

“And the same principle, precisely, holds good 
in internal diseases, the relations of which are 
simply hidden from our senses. 

“ What, then, does art do toward curing ? Art 
only assists nature in restoring the vital forces to 
their normal action. 

“ It is an error very liable to beset the young 
practitioner, to try to meet every different symp¬ 
tom by the addition of another drug to his form¬ 
ulae. This is sure to lead to excessive medication. 
Let me guard you against becoming ‘shot-gun 
practitioners,’ on the principle that, if you fire a 


4G NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 

profusion of shot, it is extraordinary if some do 
not hit the mark ! Quantity and complexity of 
prescription are very apt to be in proportion to 
the obscurity of the case. The strong and success¬ 
ful practitioner is usually a man of few remedies. 

“And always—let me once more insist as a 
sound rule of practice— when you have doubts as 
to your knowledge of the case , or doubts as between 
nature and drugs , resolve that doubt , for the time 
being, in favor of nature. And, whether ad¬ 
ministering drugs or not, see that your patient is 
put on the best possible hygiene; that his room 
is airy and well lighted; that his drinks are suit¬ 
able ; that his food is adapted to his case; that 
he is bathed and sponged if too hot, and warmed 
if too cold; and, above all, that his mind and 
nervous system are kept as quiet as possible. 

“We should enforce a rigid hygiene in obedi¬ 
ence to a most conservative and safe rule of prac¬ 
tice, namely, that it is the duty of the physician 
to restore health by the simplest means in his 
power. 

“Trousseau, the great clinical teacher of France, 
has well said that ‘ to know the nature and cause 
of disease is more than half of medicine * And, 
let me add, from another stand-point of medicine, 
To know the natural cure of disease is more 
than half of therapeutics .” 

In these last quotations we have an inkling of 
the true healing art, which, as there intimated, 
consists in so applying and using hygienic agents 
that the efforts made by the various organs of 
the body may be successful in removing all im¬ 
purities from the system and in overcoming all 
obstructions. 

It is evident that whatever rules and remila- 

O 


AND SO-CALLED “ ACTION ” OF DRUGS. 47 

tions are applicable to the preservation of health, 
are also, in a certain degree at least, applicable 
and adapted to the restoration of health, for 
those laws which it is necessary for him to obey 
who would keep healthy, must certainly be obey¬ 
ed by him who would become healthy. 

If the reader will obtain and read carefully a 
little tract of 32 pages, entitled, “ Good Health, 
and How to Preserve It” (see annexed catalogue), 
he will find a clear statement of the manner in 
which the various hygienic agents are promotive 
of health. 

If the reader has carefully perused the preced¬ 
ing pages, there can be no doubt but that he 
fully understands that disease is remedial effort, 
is an effort on the part of the organism to remove 
impurities from the system, and that, conse¬ 
quently, the only safe and successful way to treat 
disease is to supply such conditions as will en¬ 
able the diseased organs to be successful in their 
efforts. This being the case, how foolish it would 
be to simply watch the symptoms of a disease, 
and to so medicate the patient as to mitigate or 
change the symptoms without removing the 
cause which occasioned them! As previously 
stated, diseases are self-limited in their nature, 
being simply efforts to remedy evils that exist 
in the system. This being the case, the moment 
the evil, the impurity, or obstruction is overcome 
or removed, that moment the disease will cease. 
Therefore, in the treatment of disease, we should 
ever direct our attention to the cause of the dis¬ 
ease and seek to remove it ; well knowing that 
when this is accomplished, we have done all that 
is required. We should never watch the symp¬ 
toms and medicate them, as many physicians do, 


43 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


for in so doing wc create a new symptom every 
time we cause an old one to cease. So long as 
an individual lias impurities in his system, and 
his organic nervous system has sufficient vitality 
to recognize their presence, just so long will there 
bo an effort made by some organ to expel it; and 
if we stop this effort without removing the cause 
that occasioned it, some other organ will be called 
into action, and new symptoms will be manifested. 

In treating disease, we should simply seek to 
control the vital actions so that they shall not 
become so violent as to destroy any organ or tis¬ 
sue, and this we may do in three ways: first, by 
reducing or changing the temperature of the 
part; second, by inducing increased activity 
in the skin by inducing a more active circulation 
therein, which is readily done by the proper ap¬ 
plication of the bath ; and third, by a proper ap¬ 
plication of the various hygienic agents, thereby 
supplying as nearly as possible those conditions 
which are necessary to preserve the body in 
health. Most invalids make the mistake of seek¬ 
ing present relief, regardless of future conse¬ 
quences. This is wrong, as it becomes a source 
of temptation for them to take, and for physi¬ 
cians to administer, articles that will seriously 
affect their constitutional vigor in the future. 
As this work was not intended to give directions 
for the proper method of treating disease, that 
subject will not be presented here ; but it is fully 
explained and presented in a work entitled, “ The 
Hygienic Family Physician.” See annexed cat¬ 
alogue. M. G. K. 


HEALTH IS HAPPINESS! 

m* READ, AND BEAR IN MIND.~©a 

BOOKS! REFORMER! INSTITUTE! 


The Hygienic Family Physician. 

As the title suggests, this work is especially designed 
for family use. The style in which it is written is 
such as to render it perfectly intelligible to all classes, 
as it is quite free from technical terms and phrases which 
are of such frequent occurrence in nearly all books of 
this kind which have previously appeared as to render 
them more or less objectionable. It is, nevertheless, u a 
complete guide for the preservation of health and the 
treatment of disease without the use of medicine.” 

The work is written in four parts. The subjects treated 
are, in Part I., Health and Hygienic Agents ; Part II., 
Disease and Drugs ; Part III., the Bath; Part IV., Dis¬ 
eases and their Treatment. A more minute description 
of each part is found below. This work is of a thor¬ 
oughly practical nature, and should be in the hands of 
every family in the land, as it affords instruction of the 
most vital importance. Directions for the treatment of 
disease are so plain and minute that any person of ordinary 
intelligence with its assistance may successfully treat nine- 
tenths of all the cases of disease which occur in any 





o 


OUIl BOOK LIST. 


neighborhood. The publishers have placed the price so 
low that the book may be obtained by any one who feels' 
at all in need of such a work. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Cloth, bound, 
380 pp. Price, post-paid, $1.00. 


The following four pamphlets contain the larger portion 
of the bound work just noticed. They severally corre¬ 
spond with the four parts of the bound volume. 

Good Health, and How to Preserve It. 

In this pamphlet is given a brief treatise on the various 
hygienic agents and conditions which are essential for the 
preservation of health. Just the thing for a person who 
wishes to learn how to avoid disease. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 10 cents. 

Nature and Cause of Disease, and So-called 
“Action” of Drugs. 

This work is a clear and comprehensive exposition 
of the nature and true cause of disease, and also ex¬ 
poses the absurdity and falsity of drug medication. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 15 cents. 

The Bath: Its Use and Application. 

This very valuable work contains a full description 
of the various baths employed in the hygienic treat¬ 
ment of disease, together with the manner of apply - 



OUR BOOK LIST. 


o 
O 

mg them, and the diseases to which they are severally 

adapted. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 20 cents. 

The Treatment of Disease. 

In this most important work may be found an 
accurate description of the symptoms and proper treat¬ 
ment of more than one hundred diseases, comprising 
all of those which are susceptible of ordinary home treat¬ 
ment. It is an invaluable work for all who are not pro¬ 
fessionally educated in the theory and practice of medi¬ 
cine. The only remedies recommended are of course 
strictly hygienic in their nature, drugs of every descrip¬ 
tion being entirely discarded as curative agents. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 35 cents. 

-- 

The Hygienic System. 

By It. T. Tkall, M. D. 

This important work treats upon the Principles of Hy¬ 
gienic Medication—Hygeio-Tlierapy—The Essential Na¬ 
ture of Disease—The Modus Operandi of Medicine—The 
Delations of Remedies to Diseases—The Delations of 
Remedies to the Healthy Organs—The Doctrine of \ i- 
tality—The Law of • Cure—The Problems of Medical 
Science. It should be read by the million. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 15 cents. 




4 


OUR BOOK LIST. 


Health and Diseases of Woman. 

By It. T. Trall, M. D. 

This work treats upon Woman and the Medical Pro¬ 
fession—Opium—Alcohol—Tobacco — Drugs— The Pace 
Imperiled—Responsibilities of Parents—American Moth¬ 
ers—Woman’s Disadvantages—The Medical Profession 
vs. Woman — Origin of Many Infirmities — Dress and Res¬ 
piration—Dress and the Sexual Functions—Should Fash¬ 
ionable Women Marry ?—Drugging at Puberty—Scien¬ 
tific Druggery—Scanzoni vs. Churchill—Dr. Prescott on 
Druggery—Drugging in Acute Diseases—Prof. Gilman 
on Puerperal Fever—Drugging During Pregnancy—Drug¬ 
ging During the Lying-in Period—Chronic Drug Disease 
— the Better Way — Tobacco vs. Woman. 

It should be in every family, and be read by every 
woman and every girl in the land. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 15 cents. 

-K>l- 

Tobacco-Using. 

By R. T. Trall, M. D. 

This is a Philosophical Exposition of the Effects of To¬ 
bacco on the Human System. Published at the Health 
Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 15 cents. 

-*o*- 

Science of Human Life. 

This is a pamphlet of great value, containing three of 
the most important of Graham’s Lectures on the Science 
of Human Life. It is published for the benefit of those 
who may not feel able to purchase the entire work, and 
contains most of that work which is of practical value 
to the reading public. 











OUR BOOK LIST. 


5 


Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 35 cents. 

--- 

Hand Book of Health. 

Tliis work treats upon Physiology and Hygiene. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, bound iii cloth, GO cents ; in paper cover, 35 cents. 

-- 

Cook Book, or Kitchen C4uide. 

This work comprises recipes for the preparation of 
hygienic food, directions for canning fruit, &c., together 
with advice relative to change of diet. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, 20 cents. 

- •<>* - 

EXHAUSTED VITALITY; 

Or, a Solemn Appeal Relative to Solitary Vice, and the 
Abuses and Excesses of the Marriage Relation. We do 
not hesitate to say that this is the best work of the kind 
now in print in our country. It is gathered chiefly from 
the writings of the ablest and best writers upon the sub¬ 
ject. Of this subject, and this work, the compiler in liis 
preface saj^s :— 

“It is disagreeable to call attention to those sins of 
youth, and the abuses and excesses, even in the married 
life, which are ruining the souls and bodies of tens of thou¬ 
sands ; especially so, while feelings of great delicacy, rel¬ 
ative to the subject, exist in the public mind. But dis¬ 
agreeable though the task may be, facts, terrible facts of 
every-day observation, fully justify a solemn and faithful 
warning to all. We would cherish the profoundest re¬ 
spect for the delicate feelings of the truly modest and 
the really virtuous; but we confess our want of respect 
for that false delicacy in many which takes fright at the 










r> 


OUR BOOK BIST. 


mention of those vices, in consequence of which, they 
themselves exhibit evident marks of rapid decay. 

“ The reader may as well prepare at the first, by laying 
aside feelings of false delicacy, if he is troubled with them, 
to be benefited by the painful facts, plainly stated in this 
work. The real value of the lengthy article on 

<e CHASTITY ” 

Cannot be estimated by dollars and cents. Every youth 
in the land should read it. And not only the youth, but 
every parent and guardian, should study it well, and be 
prepared in a proper way to warn those children under 
their immediate care. And let every mother be stirred 
by the article under the caption of 

“APPEAL TO MOTHERS.” 

It comes from a mother’s heart—from one who has had 
experience in laboring for the unfortunate victims of se¬ 
cret vice, and is imbued with the importance of the sub¬ 
ject. The extracts entitled 

“EVILS AITD REMEDY,” 

Although unvailing many dark pictures, are entitled to 
consideration as the utterances of one whose extensive 
study of human nature has qualified him to speak to the 
point on this important subject.” 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, bound in cloth, 60 cents ; in paper cover, 30 cents. 

- +o+ - 

THREE-CENT TRACTS. 

The following tracts are offered, post-paid, for three 
cents each, or two dollars per hundred. This list of 
tracts will be greatly increased. 

Dyspepsia: Its Causes, Prevention, and Cure. 

The Dress Reform: Containing reasons for the most 
Healthful, most Modest, and most Convenient Style of 
Woman’s Dress. 

The Principles of Health Reform: Important to 
those whose minds should be called to first principles. 




THE HEALTH REFORMER. 


This is a monthly journal devoted to physical, mental, 
and moral culture. 

ITS MISSION. 

As indicated in the prospectus, its mission is to con¬ 
tribute to the improvement of mankind physically, men¬ 
tally, and morally. Of the necessity for reform in these 
particulars, we need not speak; for the alarming evi¬ 
dences of physical degeneracy and disease, mental ineffi¬ 
ciency, and moral turpitude, which we see about us on 
every hand, speak more loudly than can words of the cry- 
ins; need of immediate and thorough reformation. 

Progression is the spirit of the times. Social reform, 
prison reform, civil service reform, and various other re¬ 
forms, each in its turn, call for the careful and candid 
consideration and hearty co-operation of every intelligent 
man and woman. And very just and appropriate is this 
demand; for nothing can be more promotive of the in¬ 
terests of society than improvement—progression— re¬ 
form. Without this, stagnation would result, and civili¬ 
zation would soon degenerate into the veriest barbarism. 
Its value, then, cannot be overestimated; and every truly 
reformatory movement should receive our most serious 
and attentive consideration. 

As its name would suggest, the Health Reformer 



8 


TIIE HEALTH REFORMER. 


is published in the interest of a reformation which has a 
special bearing upon health; health—physical, mental, 
and moral. Perfect physical development, clear mental 
faculties, and acute moral sensibilities, constitute the per¬ 
fection of manhood or womanhood. Can there be any¬ 
thing more important, then, than a reform which aims to 
secure these three conditions, which, when attained, will 
place a person in that state of perfection which will en¬ 
able him to realize the highest degree of enjoyment pos¬ 
sible for man to experience? May we not justly claim 
that, while the reforms which have been mentioned are 
of great moment and absorbing interest, they are all 
eclipsed by the far greater importance of this reform 
which deals with those principles which underlie the 
whole superstructure of moral and social life, and which 
strike at the very root of all the evils which curse society, 
and rest like a mighty incubus upon the world ? 

PLAN OF ACTION. 

In order to accomplish the desired object, which has 
already been set forth, the conductors of the Reformer 
have adopted this as a fundamental principle of action: 
Physical reform is the basis of all reform. The truth 
of this principle is evident when we consider, 

1. The intimate relation of mind and matter, and the 
wonderful manner in which the mind is affected by the 
varying conditions of the body; so that whenever the 
body suffers from serious injury of any kind, the mind 
is correspondingly impaired, as* is seen in the fever 
patient raving in the wildness of delirium. 


9 


THE HEALTH REFORMER. 

2. The fact that the condition of a person’s moral or¬ 
gans depends so largely upon that of the body and mind ; 
as is illustrated by the victim of despair who labors under 
the impression that his doom is sealed, when his only 
difficulty is a torpid liver; or the irritable, misanthropic 
dyspeptic, whose unhappy mental condition is wholly due 
to a disordered stomach. 

In view of these facts, it appears that the most im¬ 
portant branch of the work of the Reformer is in the 
direction of physical improvement and reform, since 
the success of each of the other branches is contin 2 ;ent 
upon the success of this. 

But while constantly aiming at reform, and so con¬ 
tending against adverse and opposing influences, the con¬ 
ductors of the Reformer are careful to avoid those ex¬ 
tremes into which so many reformers allow themselves, 
unwittingly, perhaps, to be led. They also ever seek to 
manifest that liberality of sentiment which is in harmony 
with the spirit of the present time, when every man is 
expected and urged to think and form opinions for him¬ 
self. By so doing, they hope to incite a spirit of investi¬ 
gation, which, when pursued with candor and an unbiased 
judgment, can hardly fail to convince the reader of the 
truth of the positions taken. 

Those who conduct the Reformer endeavor to fill 
its columns with matter of practical importance and inter¬ 
est to every subscriber. Thorough instruction is given 
in regard to these two most important subjects, 


10 


THE HEALTH REFORMER. 


HOW TO RECOVER HEALTH, AND HOW 
TO RETAIN IT, 

These subjects being treated by those whose personal ex¬ 
perience enables them to speak understanding^. In fact, 
we put forth every effort to make the Reformer indis¬ 
pensable to every household , and of especial interest to 
that exceedingly large and unfortunate class of individ¬ 
uals who have been brought into the condition of inva¬ 
lids by disease. But the subject of health, proper, by 
no means receives exclusive attention. Considerable 
space is each month devoted to general literature, impor¬ 
tant and interesting discoveries in the arts and sciences, 
and such other subjects as are of general interest. 

PRESENT PROSPECTS. 

Notwithstanding the numerous and almost insurmount¬ 
able obstacles with which it has been obliged to contend, 
the Reformer has m;ide constant and rapid progress in 
extending its sphere of usefulness, until it is now estab¬ 
lished upon a firm and satisfactory basis, being furnished 
with an able corps of contributors, numbering its patrons 
by thousands throughout the United States and Terri¬ 
tories. 

The publishers of this journal are actuated by purely 
philanthropic motives, and hence offer it at such terms 
as will enable every person to obtain it who has any de¬ 
gree of interest in the important subjects, IIow to GET 
WELL and how to KEEP WELL. Terms, $1.00 a 
year, in advance. Specimen copies sent free on application. 
Address, Health Reformer, Battle Creek, Mich. 


THE HEALTH INSTITUTE. 


LOCATION. 

This model health institution is situated in the most 
healthful and delightful part of the proverbially neat and 
enterprising city of Battle Creek, Michigan, an impor¬ 
tant station on the Michigan Central B. B., about half 
way between Chicago and Detroit. Several railroads 
intersect at this point, making it easy of access from all 
directions. 

GROUNDS. 

The grounds are ample, consisting of a site of about 
twenty acres, a large portion of which is covered with 
shade, ornamental, and fruit trees. They are also high, 
overlooking the entire city, and affording a fine view of 
the landscape for miles around. 

The soil is of such a nature that mud is almost en¬ 
tirely unknown, a few hours of sunshine after a rain 
rendering the walks and roads in and about the grounds 
so free from dampness that the most delicate invalid may 
indulge freely in the benefits of out-of-door life and ex¬ 
ercise. 

In front of the main building, and between it and the 
road, is a beautiful grove, which extends along the street 
in each direction from it, some thirty rods, affording a 




12 


THE HEALTH INSTITUTE. 


delightful place of resort during the summer months. 
The grove is also provided with such means of exercise 
and recreation as are both healthful and entertaining ; as 
croquet grounds, conveniences for gymnastic exercises, 
etc. 

BUILDINGS. 

These comprise a large main building, and seven fine 
cottages, all situated upon the same site. The main 
building contains commodious parlors, dining halls, bath 
and movement rooms, etc., etc., while the other buildings 
are fitted up as private apartments for patients. By this 
means are secured that quiet and retirement which are of 
such paramount importance to the invalid, and which 
cannot be obtained in an institution where scores of suf¬ 
fering individuals are crowded together under one roof. 


BOOMS 

Are large and well ventilated, and are furnished much 
better than in any other institution of the kind, thus af¬ 
fording the patient all the luxuries and comforts which 
lie enjoys at home, and many more. 

PLAN OF TBEATMENT. 

At this institution diseases are treated on strictly hy¬ 
gienic principles; that is, only those remedies are em¬ 
ployed which will assist nature in her healing work, and 
will in no way endanger the life or constitution of the 
patient. Drugs and poisons of every description are en¬ 
tirely discarded as curative agents ; but all known means 







TIIE HEALTH INSTITUTE. 


13 


of restoring health are constantly employed, poisons alone 
being excluded from our materia mediea. 

OUR REMEDIES 

Then are Light, Water, Air, Electricity, Exercise, Cheer¬ 
fulness, Rest, Sleep, Proper Clothing, Proper Food, and, 
in fact, all Hygienic and Sanitary Agents. 

OUR PHYSICIANS. 

The medical faculty of the institution is composed of 
an adequate number of conscientious, watchful and effi¬ 
cient physicians, who give personal and unremitting care 
and attention to their patients, anticipating, as far as pos¬ 
sible, their wants, carefully studying their cases, and ap¬ 
plying every means in their power to restore them to 
health. 


OUR FACILITIES. 

Very few institutions are provided with conveniences 
and advantages equal to ours. Our bath rooms are both 
capacious and convenient, and are furnished with an in¬ 
exhaustible supply of pure, soft water. Several rooms 
are also prepared especially for the administration of the 
Sun-Bath. 


SPECIAL ADVANTAGES. 

In addition to the appliances usually employed in such 
institutions, we make use of the Hot-Air Bath (which 
possesses all the virtues of the Turkish-Bath, while avoid- 





14 


THE HEALTH INSTITUTE. 


ing its evils), the much-renowned Electric or Electro- 
Thermal-Bath, the Lift Cure, and the celebrated Swed¬ 
ish Movement Cure, which arc so successful in many 
cases which cannot be reached by other means. 

DIET. 

While we reject from our dietary those pernicious 
drinks and condiments which are the potent agents in 
bringing thousands to untimely graves, we take care to 
supply our table with an abundance of nutritious and 
palatable food, consisting of fruits, grains, and vegetables. 
We do not enforce, however, a radical and immediate 
change from old habits, but give the patient time to ac¬ 
commodate himself to the new diet. 


OUR SUCCESS. 

... I 

The class of individuals who seek aid at our institution 
is* very largely composed of those who are afflicted with 
chronic diseases, and who have been drugged and poi¬ 
soned until their vitality has become well-nigh exhausted, 
and they are given up by their friends and medical ad- 

come to 

us as a final resort, and, thanks to a true and potent 
system of treatment, this last hope is seldom disappoint¬ 
ed. Among the hundreds who have thus come to us and 


visers to die. Under these circumstances, they 


found relief from their ills and pains, during the eight 
years since the establishment of this institution, the fol¬ 
lowing cases, here briefly reported, have been treated 
within the last few months :— 




TilE HEALTH INSTITUTE. 


15 


CONSUMPTION. 

Many cases might be cited, and references given, in 
which this most insidious and hopeless of all diseases has 
been robbed of its victims and a new lease of life given 
them by a few months’ stay with us. 

DYSPEPSIA. 

Hundreds have come to us afflicted with this most de¬ 
plorable disease in its most aggravated forms, and, after 
staying a proper time, have returned to their friends re¬ 
lieved of their sufferings. 

PARALYSIS. 

Even this formidable disease is, in many cases, treated 
with entire success, the use of paralyzed organs being 
wholly restored. 

DROPSY. 

In one case, the patient came to the Institute after 
having been given up to die by friends and physicians. 
He had been tapped many times, as the accumulation of 
fluid was so rapid that respiration was rendered ex¬ 
tremely difficult in a few days; Cured in a few months, 
and reports himself still in good health. 

SCROFULA. 

Many cases of scrofula, often complicated with dys¬ 
pepsia, affections of the lungs, etc., have been treated 
with marked success. In one case, the patient had sev- 


1C) 


THE HEALTH INSTITUTE. 


oral large tumors, one nearly as large as an ordinary 
bowl. After a few weeks’ treatment, nature began the 
curative work of absorption, thus effecting a cure. This 
case had been considered entirely hopeless. 

But space will not allow further description of the 
desperate cases which have received treatment and resto¬ 
ration at this institution; but we may add that equally 
good success has attended the treatment of Asthma, 
Kidney Difficulties (of the worst forms), Chronic Diar¬ 
rhea, Chronic Congestion of the Brain, Cancer, Palpita¬ 
tion of the Heart, Bheumatism, Neuralgia, Epilepsy, 
Bronchitis, Piles, Ulceration of Bowels, Catarrh of Blad¬ 
der and Bowels, Constipation (in some cases without a 
natural passage for many years), Spermatorrhea, and, in 
fact, Chronic Diseases of all kinds. 

The most flattering success has attended the treatment 
of Uterine Difficulties, and all other Diseases of Women, 
which receive special attention. 

ACUTE DISEASES. 

Our mode of treatment is specially adapted to this 
class of diseases, meeting with the most uniform success 
with Fevers and Inflammations of every type and form, 
all Eruptive Diseases, etc., etc. 

To the sick, we say, Do not delay seeking our assist¬ 
ance until your case is hopeless. Write at once for our 
Circular, which will be sent free on application. 

Address, HEALTH INSTITUTE, 

Battle Greek, Mich. 


Disease and Drugs: 



A BRIEF TREATISE 


n ’ 


ON THE 


NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, 


AND THE SO-CALLEI) 

AGTIOU OP TD^TJG-S. 


M. G. KELLOGG, M. D. 

» 


PUBLISHED AT 

THE OFFICE OF THE HEALTH REFORMER, 
BATTLE CREEK, MICH. 


1 874 . 









THE FOUNTAIN SYRINGE. 

In offering this Syringe to the public, we feel assured that 
it must rapidly take the place of all other kinds, as all who 
have tried it agree in saying that no other Syringe should be 
used. 

The Fountain Syr¬ 
inge is simple in s its 
construction and op¬ 
eration, so that fee¬ 
ble persons can use 
it without assistance, 
b eing entirely self¬ 
acting by the weight of 
the liquid used. The 
Fountain must be 
suspended three or 
four feet above the 
point of application. 
The force thus*ob¬ 
tained is found a- 
bundantly sufficient 
for every purpose, and in fact has been pronounced by reli¬ 
able authority the only safe method to which the system 
should be subjected. 

One will last a lifetime, requiring no repairs, as there 
are no valves, nor anything that can possibly get out of or¬ 
der, consequently they are always ready for use. 

The Fountain Syringe cannot possibly inject air —which 
is the cause of so much suffering from the use of all other 
kinds, and on this account no other Syringe should be used. 

It is not only a perfect enema-giving instrument of itself, 
but by glancing at the cut it will be perceived that it is a 
combination of which no other Syringe is capable. No. 1 is 
a Sprinkler for a light shower-bath,—clothes, floors, plants, 
etc., etc. No. 2 is a Nasal Douche, which alone is worth 
the entire price of the article. No. 3 is tor children and the 
ear. No. 4 is for the Rectum. No. 5, the Vaginal. 

Manufactured and for sale by Fairbanks & Co., No. 121 
Court Street, Boston, Mass. 

j$^°We offer the Fountain Syringe, post-paid, at manu¬ 
facturers’ prices, as follows: No. 1, $2.50'; No. 2, $3.00; 
No. 3, $3 50. 

Address, HAELTII REFORMER, 

Battle Creek , Mich. 





























OUR BOOK LIST. 


The Hygienic Family Physician. As the title suggests, this 
work is especially designed for family use. The book is of a 
thoroughly practical nature, and should be in the hands of 
every family in the land, as it affords instruction of the most 
vital importance. It is “ a complete guide for the preserva¬ 
tion of health and the treatment of disease without the use 
of medicine.” 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Cloth, bound, 
380 pp. Price, post-paid, $1.00. 

Good Health, and How to Preserve It. A brief treatise on the 
various hygienic agents and conditions which are essential 
for the preservation of health. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 
10 cents. 

Nature and Cause of Disease. This is a clear and compre¬ 
hensive exposition of the nature and true cause of disease, 
and also exposes the absurdity and falsity of drug medication, 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 
15 cents. 

The Bath. Contains a full description of the various baths 
employed in the hygienic treatment of disease, and the man¬ 
ner of applying them. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 
20 cents. 

The Treatment of Disease. For all who are not educated in 
the theory and practice of medicine. The only remedies rec¬ 
ommended are strictly hygienic. 

Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 
35 cents. 

The Hygienic System. By R. T. Trail, M. D. Published at 
the Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 15 cents. 

Tobacco-Using. By R. T. Trail, M. D. Published at the 
Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 15 cents. 

j.— -—-— 









Our Book List,—Continued. 

Health and Diseases of Woman. By R. T. Trail, M. D. 
Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 
15 cents. 

Science of Hnman Life. This pamphlet contains three of 
the most important of Graham’s Lectures. Published at the 
Health Reformer Office. Price, post-paid, 85 cents. 

Hand-Book of Health. Treating on Physiology and Hygi¬ 
ene. Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, bound in cloth, 60 cents ; in paper cover, 35 cents. 

Cook Book, or Kitchen Guide. This work comprises reci¬ 
pes for the preparation of hygienic food, and advice relative 
to change of diet. Published at the Health Reformer Of¬ 
fice. Price, post-paid, 25 cents. 

Exhausted Vitality. A Solemn Appeal Relative to Solitary 
Vice, and the Abuses and Excesses of the Marriage Rela¬ 
tion. Published at the Health Reformer Office. Price, post¬ 
paid, bound in cloth, 60 cents ; in paper cover, 30 cents. 

Hydropathic Encyclopedia. Trail. Price, post-paid, $4.00. 

Science of Hnman Life. By Sylvester Graham, M. D.— 
Price, post-paid, $3.00. 

Domestic Practice, Johnson. Price, post-paid, $1.75. 

Health Tracts. Dyspepsia—Dress Reform—Principles of 
Health Reform. By mail, post-paid, three cents each, or 
$2.00 per hundred. 

Address, HEALTH REFORMER, 

Battle Creek, Mich. 


WATER FILTER. 

We furnish to order, Kedzie’s Water Filters, at the fol¬ 
lowing prices: No. 1, $9.00; No. 2, $10.50; No. 3, $12.00; 
No. 4, $13.50; No. 5, $15.00. Freight will be added. 

Address, HEALTH REFORMER, Battle Creek, Mich. 

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